遠慮（えんりょ）— enryo meaning, 遠慮なく, ご遠慮ください

Sentences

6 sentences, word by word

遠慮している · laying off

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What forms does 遠慮 take?

Noun ＋を＋遠慮する

お酒は遠慮します — I'll pass on the drink. In answer to an offer, 遠慮します is a polite no; about a habit, 遠慮している means you are laying off it.

遠慮なく＋Verb

遠慮なく食べてください. The adverb, and the reversal: it exists because the host has to explicitly release you from the restraint they assume you feel. 遠慮しないで and 遠慮せずに do the same job.

Noun ＋は＋ご遠慮ください

携帯電話のご使用はご遠慮ください. Signs, announcements and staff. Worded as a request out of politeness; often used to state a venue's rules.

Noun ＋は＋遠慮させていただきます

The humble refusal — literally “I will receive the favour of being allowed to hold back.” A formal way to say no to an invitation without ever using a negative.

Meaning

遠慮 vs 謙虚 vs 我慢 — and why 遠慮なく is the opposite

遠慮 often describes holding back out of consideration for others. 遠慮する can also politely express that you are declining an offer; it does not tell the listener whether you secretly want it. At a meal, a guest may hesitate to accept, and a host may encourage them to go ahead.

Which is exactly why 遠慮なく means the opposite. The なく means “without” — 遠慮なくどうぞ, don't hold back, help yourself. So the same word carries the refusal (遠慮します, no thank you) and the invitation (遠慮なく, please do). If somebody says it to you at a table, it is permission, not a warning.

謙虚 is modesty — a character trait. It is about how you rate yourself: 謙虚な人 doesn't claim more than they are owed. 遠慮 is a behaviour in a particular moment, about what you take and don't take. You can be 遠慮 without being 謙虚, and a genuinely 謙虚 person may accept your offer straight away.

我慢 focuses on endurance or self-restraint. 痛みを我慢する means to bear the pain. 遠慮 commonly focuses on social restraint or politely declining. The words describe different aspects of an action, so the surrounding situation matters.

Inside the word

遠＋慮 — thinking from a distance

遠 — えん · far, distant

The walking radical 辶 under 袁: going a long way. It gives 遠い far, 永遠 eternity, 望遠鏡 a telescope — and the distance in 遠慮, which is the step back you take before reaching for something.

慮 — りょ · think it over

To think carefully or take something into consideration. Kanjipedia analyzes it as a semantic-phonetic character: 思 contributes meaning and 虍 contributes sound. It appears in 考慮 consideration, 配慮 thoughtfulness towards others, and 憂慮 grave concern, among other compounds.

遠慮 — foresight, narrowed to manners

In classical Chinese the compound meant thinking far ahead, as in the Analects line about the person who takes no long view and so meets trouble close at hand. That older sense is still recorded in Japanese, especially in compounds such as 深謀遠慮. In everyday use, it more often means holding back or politely declining. The reading is えんりょ, listed both flat and with an early drop.

Watch out

Where 遠慮 goes wrong

Hearing 遠慮なく as a warning

It is the opposite — permission. 遠慮なくどうぞ from a host means help yourself, and 遠慮なく言ってください means say the awkward thing. It invites you to accept or speak freely; it does not oblige you to accept something you do not want.

Reading ご遠慮ください as optional

On a sign it means don't. 車内での通話はご遠慮ください is a rule dressed as a request, which is the standard register for public notices in Japan. Treat the notice as an instruction to refrain; the wording itself does not specify whether there is a formal penalty.

Using 遠慮 where you mean 我慢

For enduring pain or hunger, 我慢 is the usual choice. 遠慮 commonly describes social restraint or politely declining an offer. Choose the word for the aspect you mean.

Also asked

Questions people ask about 遠慮

What does 遠慮 (enryo) mean?

Often, holding back out of consideration for someone else. It can describe restraint in what you take or say, and it also has a separate sense of declining. It does not necessarily mean you want what is offered. As a verb, 遠慮します in answer to an offer is a polite no.

Why does 遠慮なく mean the opposite of 遠慮?

Because it is the negative — 遠慮 with なく, without. A host can encourage a hesitant guest: 遠慮なくどうぞ, don't hold back. 遠慮しないで and 遠慮せずに say the same thing.

What does ご遠慮ください mean on a sign?

Please refrain from —. On a public notice, it normally tells visitors not to do the named activity, using the wording of a polite request: 喫煙はご遠慮ください means no smoking. If you see ご遠慮願います, that is the same instruction one notch more formal.

遠慮 or 謙虚 — what's the difference?

謙虚 is modesty, a standing trait: not claiming more than you are owed. 遠慮 is a behaviour in a moment: not taking the last piece, not raising the awkward point. A 謙虚 person might accept your offer immediately; someone showing 遠慮 may hesitate to accept.

How do I politely decline an invitation using 遠慮?

今回は遠慮します is the everyday version and 遠慮させていただきます the formal one — literally “I'll receive the favour of being allowed to hold back,” which is how Japanese says no without a negative anywhere in the sentence. Both usually follow せっかくですが.

What does 遠慮がち (enryogachi) mean?

Inclined to hold back; diffident. がち means something tends to happen, usually with a hint that it is a shame — so 遠慮がちに話す is speaking tentatively, as though apologising for the interruption. Whether the description is sympathetic or critical depends on context.

References

Sources and usage notes

Shogakukan dictionaries: 遠慮 — Social restraint, polite refusal, and the original foresight sense retained in Japanese.

Kanjipedia: 慮 — Meaning, readings, compounds, and the semantic-phonetic character analysis from Kadokawa Shin Jigen.

Japan Foundation: directions, commands, and prohibitions — How politely worded notices, including ご遠慮ください, convey directions.

Nearby

Where this word turns up

ないで vs なくて vs ずにnaide · nakute · zu ni

遠慮しないで / 遠慮せずに — the three ways to say 'without'

せっかくsekkaku

せっかくですが、遠慮します — the front half of the refusal

迷惑meiwaku

迷惑をかけたくないから遠慮する — what the restraint is protecting

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遠慮（えんりょ） enryo meaning